Qld Government stalling grog licence, Indigenous mayor says

A Cape York Aboriginal community has accused the Queensland Government of deliberately holding up a liquor licence application.

On Friday in the High Court, the Kowanyama and Aurukun councils lost their right to appeal against state laws banning them from holding liquor licences.

Kowanyama Shire Mayor Thomas Hudson says a private application for a liquor licence was lodged more than two years ago.

He says it was registered before Indigenous councils were banned from holding liquor licences, prompting the closure of the community's canteen.

Councillor Hudson says the State Government has been discriminating against the community by holding up a private application by John Sheen for a liquor licence.

"The things that John getting and he's feeding it back to me, they're saying, 'yes. we're looking at it, we're putting it on top priority' but it just goes on and on and on," he said.

"They bring up all sorts of excuses that they're going through this and they're going through that - I just don't know - they're just playing tit for tats with us I think.

"That's two-and-a-half-years ago and it's still out there and still going through government.

"The thing we're saying to government is, does it take that long - two-and-a-half-years - to do an application or are they deliberately just lingering on and on and on?

"If a person put it in the mainstream I'm pretty sure it doesn't take that time frame to run that application through."

The lawyer representing the two far north Queensland communities, John Bottoms, says the Government is ignoring local solutions to dealing with alcohol abuse.

Mr Bottoms says not having a tavern in the community has led to more alcohol-related deaths.

"The administrative hurdles that have been put in the way of the commercial operator for coming into the community have been very substantial and don't look like that they're going to be put aside to the extent that senior bureaucrats are now describing the situation as prohibition," he said.

However, a spokeswoman for the Office of Liquor and Gaming Regulation says the application is complex and takes into account the health and social impacts on the community.

She says community justice groups, the council, police and residents of Kowanyama have been consulted about the licence application.

The spokeswoman says a decision on the application is expected in the near future.